The Quest for Rare-Earth Elements , In March 2012 the EU, the U.S., and Japan jointly filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO), alleging that China was engaging in unfair practices relating to the export of rare-earth elements (REEs). The REEs are a group of 17 chemical elements that can be exploited in a wide range of modern technologies, from smartphones to televisions. In 2012 about 95% of the world’s REEs were mined in China, and that country’s trading partners were incensed at what they perceived to be China’s exploitation of its monopoly, including the imposition of export quotas. In response to the WTO complaints, China claimed that it was limiting exports so that its REE industry could repair environmental damage caused by years of uncontrolled production. In addition, the country needed to husband its finite REE resources in order to supply its own high-tech industry.

Unique Properties, High-Tech Applications

From a chemist’s point of view, the REEs consist of the lanthanoid elements—any of the series of 15 consecutive chemical elements in the periodic table from lanthanum through lutetium—in addition to 2 elements from Group 3 of the periodic table, scandium and yttrium. Because of their electronic structures, these elements exhibit unique magnetic, optical, and catalytic properties. In practice, they are usually combined with other elements to form carefully tailored compounds and alloys, which are then used for specific applications. By 2012 the growing importance of these applications had increased demand for the underlying REEs and hence their value. Examples of REE applications include:

Catalytic materials, which accelerate chemical processes without being consumed in the processes themselves. Lanthanum- and cerium-based catalysts, for example, are used in the refining of crude oil. Cerium-based catalysts can also be found in the catalytic converters used in motor vehicles to reduce the emission of pollutants.

Magnetic materials, which are used in permanent magnets that appear in a wide variety of industrial and high-tech applications. Alloys based on neodymium and samarium produce the highest magnetic strengths of any known permanent-magnet materials. This property allows for the miniaturization of magnetic components and thus of devices that contain those components, such as cell phones and hard-disk drives. The ability of these materials to resist being demagnetized by heat and other factors means that they can be used in challenging operating conditions, which is especially important in electric motors and generators.

Phosphor materials, which emit light after exposure to electrons or ultraviolet radiation. Phosphors containing europium, terbium, and yttrium are particularly effective at producing very specific wavelengths of light while efficiently using electricity. Phosphor materials are used extensively in flat-panel computer displays and televisions, cell phones, tablet computers, and other electronics. They are also found in compact fluorescent lights, which are gradually replacing less-efficient incandescent bulbs.

A car’s catalytic converter, which uses the rare-earth element cerium in its catalysts.

Einar Muoni/Alamy

A hard-disk drive from a computer, which uses rare-earth elements in its magnetic components.

Magnetic and phosphor materials are finding increasing demand as a result of their use in components and devices relating to “green” or sustainable energy. The U.S. and other countries have deemed it to be a major priority to secure access to REEs used in any future large-scale production and use of electric vehicles, next-generation wind turbines, and energy-efficient devices.

Mineral Resources

Although each REE has its own properties, as a group the elements are chemically similar. As a result, they tend to be found together in nature, bound within certain specific minerals that occur in a limited variety of rock types. The chemical similarities of the group mean that once they have been found and dug from the ground, it is a significant challenge for manufacturers to separate the individual REEs from each other. Over the years, a number of processes have been developed to overcome this challenge. Solvent extraction has become the process of choice, as it allows manufacturers to produce individual rare-earth products at relatively high levels of purity.

Prominent REE-bearing minerals found in ore deposits are bastnaesite, monazite, loparite, xenotime, and laterite clays. Among the elements there are groupings that become important when considering their geologic occurrence, processing, and commercial exploitation. Light REEs (LREEs; lanthanum through neodymium) can be found in greater abundance than medium REEs (MREEs; samarium through gadolinium) and heavy REEs (HREEs; yttrium and terbium through lutetium), although almost all REEs can typically be found in varying amounts in any mineral deposit. The exceptions are scandium, which is typically found separate from the other REEs, and promethium, an unstable radioactive element produced only by the fission of other elements and thus not naturally occurring.

China’s dominance of REE production began in the 1980s, and by the 1990s almost all production elsewhere in the world had ceased. China could produce REEs at low cost because of inexpensive labour and little concern for pollution control and mitigation. In addition, producers in northern China could extract LREEs as a by-product of iron-ore mining, lowering production costs even further. Finally, MREEs and HREEs (M/HREEs) were discovered in southern China in the form of laterite clays, or ion adsorption clays, a type of geologic formation that might be unique in the world. The nature of these clays allowed for the easy production of M/HREEs despite their occurrence in relatively low concentrations and the somewhat primitive means initially used to exploit them.

Dealing with Shortages

As demand for Chinese REEs grew, concerns were expressed within China for the industry’s future development. Some observers felt that China was not receiving the full value of its resources, with REEs being sold for significantly less than their intrinsic value. At the same time, it was becoming apparent that something had to be done about the growing pollution caused by REE mining and processing. These concerns led to restrictions on the production and export of REE-based materials and products, most notably through the imposition of export quotas. Strict new pollution controls were also implemented, and heavily polluting mines and the most inefficient processing facilities were closed.

Pipes coming from a rare-earth smelting plant spew polluted water near Xinguang village, located in …

In 2010 an unexpected tightening of China’s export quotas for REEs led to a significant price spike in global markets; in the case of dysprosium oxide, prices rose by more than 3,000%. Afterward, export quotas were held steady, and prices stabilized. However, the unprecedented display of volatility caused significant consternation among end-users of REE-based materials, with some manufacturers going as far as to try to engineer the materials out of their products.

China is not the only country with significant deposits of REE-bearing minerals. Viable ore deposits are known to exist in the U.S., Australia, Russia, Canada, India, South Africa, and Southeast Asia—a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the world’s exploration and mining companies. Indeed, projections of future demand for REEs led to the reopening of a closed mine at Mountain Pass, Calif., which came back onstream in 2011. Another mine began operating at Mount Weld, Australia, in 2011, and processing of mined ores began in Malaysia in 2012.

Meanwhile, the concerns cited above over the supply of REEs critical to green energy have led to an explosion of geologic exploration across the globe. More than 400 rare-earth deposits have been identified in almost 40 different countries, the majority occurring in Canada, Australia, Greenland, and the U.S. By the end of 2012, almost 50 of these deposits were at an advanced stage of exploration and development.

In addition to finding new geologic sources of REEs, companies outside China are studying new methods of separating the individual elements from each other more quickly and with lower quantities of reagents and chemicals. Finally, considering both the limited reserves and high value of REEs, recycling the elements from consumer products that have reached the end of their useful life is expected to become more important.